Argentine-Based Uala Debuts Bitcoin, Ether Trading Service
- fintech firm operating in Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia, Uala has debuted trading services for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) amid the crypto market’s bearish downturn.
- According to Andres Rodriguez Ledermann, vice president of Wealth Management at Uala, the trading service will only be available to a few thousand users initially.
- The minimum transaction size has been set at 250 pesos ($0.83) and the platform will only allow purchasing these cryptocurrencies and no withdrawals will be possible.
- Uala has become the first financial player to launch crypto trading in Argentina after the local central bank barred two banks from doing so in May.
Argentina-based fintech firm Uala has officially debuted trading services for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) amid the crypto market’s bearish downturn, when the price of BTC has dipped by more than 65% from its all-time high noted in the month of November 2021. However, interestingly, the price of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency finally broke the $21,000 price region after weeks of bearish movement in the last 24 hours, according to BitcoinWisdom’s data.
According to a report, the trading service will only be available to a few thousand users initially and Andres Rodriguez Ledermann, vice president of Wealth Management at Uala, told CoinDesk that the BTC and ETH trading service will be made available to all the 4.5 million Argentine customers in coming weeks, driving the adoption of crypto in the country which is struggling with its native currency.
Additionally, the minimum transaction size has been set at 250 pesos ($0.83) and the platform will only allow purchasing these cryptocurrencies. This means that users cannot withdraw cryptocurrencies via the new service debuted by Uala. Interestingly, the firm has millions of users in Mexico and Colombia where this feature will not be available due to regulatory concerns.
Ledermann stated that as soon as the regulatory matter clears, Uala will debut Bitcoin and Ether trading services in Mexico and Colombia as well. Moreover, the chances of adding additional cryptocurrencies to the platform are yet to be discussed. Currently, the biggest two cryptocurrencies occupy more than 50% of the entire crypto market which is the reason why almost every firm is more interested in these two tokens.
With the debut of the new service, Uala has become the first financial player to launch crypto trading in Argentina after the local central bank barred two banks from doing so. Banco Galicia, the largest Argentinian private bank by market value, added the option to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its platform in May.
Moreover, according to Ledermann, Uala has also created a new firm Uanex, which is based in England with Latin American crypto company Bitso as its crypto liquidity provider, to comply with local regulations in Argentina. The firm also raised a $350 million Series D funding round co-led by SoftBank and Tencent’ affiliates in August, confirming a valuation of $2.45 billion.
Additionally, Argentina has become the land of crypto adoption as many firms have come front to capitalize on the booming crypto space. Recently, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance partnered with financial services company Mastercard, to launch prepaid cards for locals in the country.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
